2. Scott
SCOTT
I was frosting a birthday cake when I noticed someone enter on the monitor.
Not a cake for someone else but for myself.
See, every year on my birthday, my mom used to make me a chocolate layer cake with cream cheese frosting and four candles.
It was a tradition she wasn’t willing to give up, even when she moved to Florida three years ago to finally enjoy her retirement.
Before she agreed to move, she made me promise I'd keep making a cake for myself every year.
It felt a little pathetic the first time I did it, but I love cake, so it actually worked out to be a good excuse to bake.
Now I baked cakes for all my friends and neighbors whenever they had a birthday.
They weren’t fancy, but they were delicious.
As the owner of a fully automated wash-and-dry, I didn’t have to spend much time downstairs.
Keeping any eye on the surveillance monitors was sufficient supervision unless someone had a problem with a machine or got rowdy.
Spin Cycle was directly below my apartment, and when I bought the building, I renovated the whole place to run on an app-based payment system.
No staff needed. Just machines doing their thing while I did mine.
It worked well most of the time.
I was spreading the last of the frosting over the top layer when I glanced at the screen and saw the guy loading a trash bag of clothes into a dryer.
It wasn’t usual for people who weren’t regular customers to show up with trash bags or even paper bags.
If they started coming on a regular basis, they usually invested in an actual hamper.
I’d know soon enough which camp he fell in.
My attention was locked on the poor guy. He must have gotten caught in the rain because he was completely soaked.
Once his clothes were loaded, he took a minute to figure out where the payment kiosk was and then went straight for it.
That part I'd seen a hundred times. The payment system wasn't intuitive to everyone.
Most people figured it out after a few minutes of poking around at it, but at least a few times a week, I'd have to go down and help someone who couldn't work it out.
This guy was at the kiosk for a while before he tried calling the customer support number. That number went to the provider, but they were closed on weekends, so I’d have to go down and help him out.
I smoothed the frosting on the sides of the cake and could see from the way his shoulders were moving that he was getting frustrated. I felt a little guilty about not posting the tutorial I’d had on my list for months.
The trick was that you had to add the full amount of time you wanted first, and then go back to the machine to enter the code, which wasn’t obvious or well-designed.
But when the poor guy slid down the kiosk screen and slumped down on the floor, I knew I couldn’t let him flounder any longer. I slipped my phone into my pocket and headed for the stairs.
The laundromat smelled like warm dryer sheets when I pushed through the door from the back hallway.
He was still on the floor, and up close, he looked younger than he had on the monitor.
Cuter too. Light brown hair with a short beard.
He would have been sexy if not for the red eyes and utterly defeated aura about him when he looked up at me.
He sniffed and wiped across his face, trying to pull himself together. “Do you work here?”
"Yep." I crouched down so I wasn't looming over him. "Payment system giving you trouble?"
He looked at the kiosk and nodded. "Yeah, I couldn't get the dryer to start. I tried like ten times, and it looked like it was taking my money but nothing happened."
"The kiosk's confusing. I need to put up better instructions." I stood up and held out my hand to pull him with me. "You have to add the time and then take the code back to the machine. The instructions don't make that clear."
He stared at me. "There’s a code?"
"Exactly.” I was fixing this today. It was cruel of me to put people through so much stress when there was an easy fix. “But yeah, it’s on the bottom of the receipt screen. Easy to miss."
He let out a breathy laugh and sighed. "I thought I was losing my mind."
"Nope, just bad design." I went to the kiosk and walked him through it. A minute later, we had his dryer running. For a long moment, he just watched it tumble like it was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.
"How long do you think it’ll take?" He looked at his phone and then started to pace. "I've got a game at noon, and I'm already cutting it close."
"This one is pretty fast. We can check it in twenty minutes and see if you need more time."
“Okay, that should be okay.” His shoulders dropped and he seemed to relax, but then he swayed a bit like he was lightheaded. “Is there a vending machine or something?”
He looked pale and was still damp. I didn’t like it. "I was gonna grab a sandwich next door. You wanna join me?”
His eyes went wide, and he looked at the dryer. “I feel like I should stay close by, but thank you. I’ll grab something on my way to the rink.”
“Hockey?” I didn’t try to hide the way my eyes raked down and then back up his body. He had an athletic build. Not as bulky as me but probably fast as fuck to stay nimble on the ice.
He smiled as if that was a topic that made him happy. "Yeah. Left wing. We have a game in…" He glanced at his watch and cringed. “Just over an hour. Drew’s gonna kill me.”
“Drew?” Was that a boyfriend?
“Team captain. He’s been lecturing the guys about arriving early for warmups.
I’m usually early, but now I’ll be making the walk of shame at the last minute.
” He pulled out his phone and thumbed out a quick message.
Then he placed his hand on the glass of the dryer and tapped it. “Come on, baby. Dry, dry, dry.”
He was cute. “Fair enough. I’m gonna get a turkey club. Does that work for you?” I pulled out my phone to start an online order. It was still early, but I didn’t want to waste time. "My treat for not having clear signage on the equipment."
He blinked at me like he wasn’t sure how to respond. "You don't have to do that."
"I know." I put the two sandwiches in the cart. "Any allergies?"
He was quiet for a second before he shook his head. "No. I eat everything."
“Good boy.” I sent the order and then realized what I’d said. “I’ll go pick them up in a few minutes.”
“Okay, thank you." He walked over to a bench and dropped onto it. "Are you the owner?"
"Yep.” I sat down beside him. “I’m Scott."
"Forest." He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. "I live right down the street, but I've never come in here before."
"Most people don't need to…until they do." I wanted to ask a million questions, but I kept it casual. "You got a dryer at home?"
"Yeah, but it’s dead." He rubbed the back of his neck and leaned forward with his forearms resting on his thighs. "It’s been making a grinding noise, but I thought I’d be fine for a while."
I chuckled softly. "Grinding noises are never fine."
"Yeah, I'm realizing that." The corner of his mouth turned up a little. "I fix HVAC units for a living and tell people that exact thing every day."
I smiled at that and cocked my head. "Cobbler's kids."
He laughed and seemed to finally shake off the morning stress. "Exactly. An HVAC guy with a busted dryer."
“Well, you’re about to be an HVAC guy with the best turkey club you’ve ever tasted.” I pushed up from the bench and took a few steps out. “I’ll be right back.”
As I headed out the door, I could feel him watching me. I wanted to keep my cool, but as I pushed open the door, I couldn't resist glancing back at him. Forest’s eyes were locked on my ass, but they quickly moved up to my face when he realized I was looking.
I wanted to say something flirty or suggestive but nothing came to mind. I was completely disarmed by this guy and needed a few minutes of fresh air to gather my thoughts and maybe come up with a way to get his number.
But first, I needed to feed that boy.